On the first Sunday of October, runners in O’Dubhda-blue gathered on the Main Street of Enniscrone, stretched their calves under a wet October sky, and set off on a course that traces — almost without meaning to — the old map of the chiefdom. Ten kilometres along the Atlantic. A half-marathon out into Castleconnor. Twenty miles for those readying themselves for Dublin City Marathon. They call it the O’Dubhda Challenge, and the name is no accident.

2025 — the race in numbers

This year’s edition (Sunday 5 October 2025) brought a strong field across all three distances. Conditions held up; the Atlantic obliged with a stiff westerly but no real downpour. Headline finishes:

• 10k: Lorcan Murray (Mayo AC) — 36:55; Caroline Coulter (Tireragh AC) first woman home in 41:54.
• Half-marathon: Eoin Nagle — 1:19:24; Denise White — 1:37:59.
• 20-miler: Eoin Callaghan — 2:07:15; Michelle Spain — 2:55:34.

Special mention to Jimmy Feeney of Mayo AC, who ran 50:10 in the M70 category in the 10k — a time that ought to embarrass a few of us thirty years his junior. Jimmy, for what it’s worth, has been showing up to this race since the very first edition in 2016, when he finished 10th in the half-marathon in 1:42:41. Nine years on, he is faster over a different distance, and the rest of us are jealous.

A decade in the running

The O’Dubhda Challenge began on Sunday 18 September 2016 as a grassroots fundraiser to build an athletics track for Enniscrone. Ninety-two competitors lined up that first day across the 10k, half and full marathon. The start line was Castle Field — the green stretch under the curtain wall of O’Dowd’s Castle, the seaside tower-house that anchored the family’s grip on the north Mayo–Sligo coast for the best part of three centuries.

From the beginning the race has been the work of Martin McHale and a quiet army of West Sligo AC volunteers. It has run nearly every October since — including the wild, wet edition of 2020, when John Gordon of Mayo AC took the marathon in 3:04:06 in conditions Mayo AC politely described as “testing.” (Gordon had won the year before in a sharper 2:59:33; the man does not seem to mind the rain.) The full marathon — originally two loops of the half — has since been retired in favour of a 20-miler that doubles neatly as Dublin City Marathon prep.

A course you feel in your legs and your bones

The 10k hugs the coast, all rural tarmac and Atlantic light. The half-marathon loops out through Enniscrone and Kilglass, the kind of countryside that looks like it was painted rather than farmed. The 20-miler adds a second sweep through the Castleconnor townlands.

You pass within sight of places that have been on the family’s map since the 1300s: the dunes where Carn Inghine Briain still rises above the strand, the stretch of coast from which the O’Dubhda once levied tribute on every Spanish, Scottish and English ship that sheltered in Killala Bay, the old church on Main Street that now serves as the start line. Few marathons in Ireland double quite so neatly as an ancestral pilgrimage.

Looking ahead — Sunday 4 October 2026

West Sligo AC have pencilled in Sunday 4 October 2026 for the next edition. Same three distances — 10k (€25), Half Marathon (€35), 20 miles (€45). 9:00 a.m. gun for the half and 20-miler; 10k follows at 9:30. Every finisher takes home a medal and the year’s specially designed top.

• Start / Finish: Old Church, Main Street, Enniscrone
• Entries: O’Dubhda Challenge 2026 on Eventmaster
• Organiser: West Sligo AC — westsligoac@gmail.com

An invitation

If you have ever wanted a reason to come and stand on O’Dubhda ground — to feel underfoot the country your ancestors held — there are worse excuses than a pair of trainers and a starting line in front of the old church. Run it for the medal. Run it for Enniscrone Athletics. Run it because somewhere out beyond the dunes, Cathal Dubh of the dark countenance is keeping time.

If you are a Clan member and you do enter, drop us a line at hello@odubhda.org — we will keep an eye out for you on the day, and we would love to share your finish-line photo here.

With thanks: Race details and history drawn from RunIreland.com, Running Calendar Ireland, and the excellent race recaps on mayoac.com (2025), 2020 and 2016. The start-line photograph is reproduced with credit to West Sligo Athletics Club pending formal permission. If you are the photographer or rights-holder and would prefer your image removed or differently credited, please contact hello@odubhda.org and we will make it right immediately.